|
|
 Tergeste (from terg, "market", and este, "city") founded by the Romans during the 2nd century b.C. quickly became a lively commercial burg, a function that was favoured by its placement between Aquileia and the Istrian coast. At the time of the Emperor Trajan, Trieste spread out over the Colle di S. Giusto and had a triangular shape, with its vertex placed at the top of the hill and the base close to the sea, which used to reach up to hwat is now called Città Vecchia. At the foot of the hill there were the old salt-mines, the result of the Romans' huge channelling and drainage works. the mines were the basis for a florid commerce, which has left its trace in the form of the name of a street, the via del Sale ("salt"). In the following two centuries, Trieste enjoyed a long period of peace and wealth, during which the basilica, the forum and the capitoline temple were built. In the 4th century b.C., following the Barbarian invasions and the fall of the Roman Empire, the city entered a long period of economic and cultural lethargy, which only ended in the 12th
century.
|
 After proclaiming itself a free Commune in 1236 in order to escape the political and commercial arrogance of the Republic of Venice, Trieste chose to establish a political alliance with Austria, a country geographically further away and with different political and economic interest, and in 1382 the Dedication Act was signed, which was a defining moment in the city's history. In the 17th century, under the Austro-Hungarian Empire's rule, Trieste achieved an unprecedented degree of social and cultural development thanks to Karl VI's progressive policies, subsequently furthered by his daughter Mary Therese. In 1719 Trieste, with its crucial role as the only seaport of the Empire, obtained free port status from the government; its tax-free policy and enormous background drew merchants, entrepreneurs and buccaneers from all over the world.
Anglicans, Greek and Serbian Orthodox Christians, Lutherans, Jews and other religious communities were allowed to practice their religion thanks to Mary Therese's policy of tolerance, which gave them the right to build their own places of worship, still a part of the city's cultural and artistic heritage. Trieste had outgrown its Roman walls considerably: thus the Borgo Teresiano (built on top of the old salt-mines on the Canale di Ponterosso), and later the Giuseppino (which corresponds more or less to the area west of Piazza Unità) and the Franceschino (the area surrounding via Battisti-via Carducci-piazza Oberdan) were built and named after the reigning Emperors. That was when Trieste turned into a cosmopolitan, ethnically diverse and tolerant city, open to all sorts of people from all over the world. Commerce, insurance (Assicurazioni Generali, Ras), shipping agencies ( Lloyd Austriaco, later Lloyd Triestino) and banking thus began to
flourish.
Following a brief period under French rule between the 18th and 19th Centuries, Trieste was again annexed by the Austrian Empire and became a haven of prosperity, where commerce received fresh impulse from the opening of the Suez Channel, which brought the city closer to the Indies and the Far East. That was also the time of its cultural and political renaissance: James Joyce, Italo Svevo, Giani Stuparich and Umberto Saba were among the most famous personalities propping up the bar at the caffè letterari. Ideals such as freedom, national identity and unity found fertile ground and many Triestines, unhappy with being under Austrian rule, became passionate supporters of political and cultural independence.
 When in 1918 Trieste was reunited with the rest of Italy, it changed rapidly. With the sudden loss of its natural background, Trieste went from being the only seaport of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to being one of the many seaports in Italy. The city lost its cosmopolitan identity in favour of a growing provincialism, which as of today it has been unable to shake off. Trieste was forced to follow the desitny of the rest of the country. Following the fascist period and the armistice of 1943, it was annexed by the 3rd Reich and it became part of the Adriatic Littoral, which included the territories occupied by the Germans. That marked a truly dark period in the history of the city, were the only concentration camp was placed in the ex rice-husking factory of S. Sabba.
The end of the war and the fall of Nazifascism in May 1945 did not give back the city its serenity. Due to the disagreement (especially in terms of ideology) between the Resistance and the Yugoslav partisans, Trieste found itself at the heart of an international dispute: on one side there was the newborn Republic of Yugoslavia, which claimed Trieste as its own, and on the other were the Anglo-American allies, who did not intend to give up on this crucial outpost near the border with Eastern Europe. On May 1st 1945, Trieste was occupied by the Yugoslav army. There followed forty days of repression and the massacres of the Foibe (when many opponents of communism were thrown into the deep and deadly Karst caves). In June 1945 an Anglo-American administration set in, known as the Allied Military Government, which managed the city pending a decision.
With the Paris Treaty of 1947 the Triestine territory was declared international, and the Territorio Libero di Trieste (TLT - "Free Territory of Trieste") was created and placed under the rule of a governor appointed by the Security Council of the United States. Pending this appointment, the area surrounding the city was divided into two zones: Zone A, from Duino to Trieste, managed by the Allies, and Zone B, from Koper to Novigrad, managed by the dagli Yugoslavs. This provisional situation carried on until 1954 when, with the London Memorandum, this division was de facto sanctioned.
The complicated issue was resolved, not without a lot of controversy, in 1975 with the Osimo Treaty: the borders were acknowledged, Zone A became Italian and Zone B was handed to the Yugoslav Republic. The status quo was therefore legally sanctioned, although some remained persuaded that the arrangement was provisional.
|
|
|
|
|
